


JNPR drabbles

by phinnium



Category: RWBY
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hurt, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, M/M, Nightmares, Poly JNPR - Freeform, Sickness, i'll probably add more, it's mostly fluff, polyamorous JNPR
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-27
Updated: 2019-01-15
Packaged: 2019-08-08 12:57:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 17,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16429817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phinnium/pseuds/phinnium
Summary: JNPR had established a closer relationship than most teams. They began spending more and more time together, becoming closer as friends. Countless training sessions of clanging metal and heavy breathing, shopping trips in each others company, lunches and lessons spent together. Feelings towards each other changed, emotions became more intense, and eventually, the team sat down in their dorm room after a day of lessons plus lunch with RWBY, and didn't come out until the next morning. The group talked for hours, about how they felt towards each other. For the first time, Nora sat quiet and still. For the first time, Ren spoke up about his true feelings, and spoke much more than he ever had before in Pyrrha and Jaunes' presence. For the first time, Jaune spoke about his feelings towards another male, and how he wasn't sure how to respond to them. For the first time, Pyrrha stuttered her words, and tapped her foot, just as unsure of how to react as her partner.In the end, when they finally emerged from their dorm again, Nora was clinging to Ren's arm as usual, but her other hand contained Pyrrha's. And at Ren's other side stood the leader of the team, their hands tightly intertwined.





	1. Becoming JNPR

**Author's Note:**

> this is mostly just gonna be jnpr fluff. but i can promise there will also be a fair amount of angst too. enjoy.

JNPR had established a closer relationship than most teams. After a fair amount of convincing from Ren and Nora (mostly Nora), Pyrrha finally asked Jaune if he felt the same way about her, that she felt about him. And one extremely long conversation later, the blonde and the redhead were officially, "a thing".  
Only a couple of days later, Nora and Ren made an announcement to the remaining members of JNPR, and team RWBY that they were finally, "together-together" also. The two couples spent more and more time together, becoming closer as friends. Countless training sessions of clanging metal and heavy breathing, shopping trips in each others company, lunches and lessons spent together. Feelings towards each other changed, emotions became more intense, and eventually, the team sat down in their dorm room after a day of lessons plus lunch with RWBY, and didn't come out until the next morning. The group talked for hours, about how they felt towards each other. For the first time, Nora sat quiet and still. For the first time, Ren spoke up about his true feelings, and spoke much more than he ever had before in Pyrrha and Jaunes' presence. For the first time, Jaune spoke about his feelings towards another male, and how he wasn't sure how to respond to them. For the first time, Pyrrha stuttered her words, and tapped her foot, just as unsure of how to react as her partner.  
In the end, when they finally emerged from their dorm again, Nora was clinging to Ren's arm as usual, but her other hand contained Pyrrha's. And at Ren's other side stood the leader of the team, their hands tightly intertwined.   
In other words, the team was close. In fact, they were all together-together. Though, they were aware that it was unlikely for others to understand or accept them, so they decided to at least attempt to keep their odd relationship status to themselves. 

It wasn't long until RWBY noticed something different about their team dynamic. The way that Nora would now happily sit on any of her team members' laps like it was nothing. How each of the members would hold hands when in corridors, while believing there was no one present to see them. How Ren would rest his head on Jaune's shoulder, and Pyrrha would gently run her hands through his raven hair. Ruby was the one who approached them about it.  
"Hey, Guys?" She asked, a hint of hesitance in her voice.  
"Yeah?" Jaune replied absentmindedly, his eyes remaining on the pages of his comic, Ren leaning against his shoulder, his eyes closed. Ruby wasn't quite sure if he was awake or not. They were in the library at the time, team RWBY sat on the table next to JNPR's. Though, the two teams were there for very different reasons. The all-female team were presently using the space in order to have to "team bonding" time. While the other team was there simply to study. Considering the fact that Ren was most likely asleep, Jaune was reading a comic, and the two redheads were almost tickling each other to death, their studying session was not very successful.  
"You guys have been acting kinda weird around each other- well not weird, but like, we were- I w- was wondering-"  
"We're polyamorous," Ren apparently was awake.  
"W- what?"  
Ren looked to Jaune for a moment. The blonde simply stared for a moment nervously, before sighing and nodding towards the 15 year old.   
"We're all dating," Ren continued, "that's what polyamorous means. It means all four of us are together."  
Ruby seemed confused for a moment before a slightly taller blonde appeared behind her, "congrats, guys!"  
By this point Pyrrha and Nora had tuned in, ceasing their tickle war. Not only that, but Pyrrha was now blushing profusely. Nora found her hand under the table and squeezed it gently. The taller redhead visibly relaxed a little.  
Jaune smiled politely, "Thanks, Yang."  
Pyrrha coughed quietly. She hesitated for a moment before speaking, "does it not make you uncomfortable?"  
Blake leant back in her chair, making herself visible from behind the sisters, "no, of course not. Why would it?"  
Nora spoke up, "We thought that people might not understand."  
Ren continued for her, as if reading her thoughts, "And when people don't understand things, they tend to rebel against them. They develop a hatred for them."  
"You don't have to worry about that with us." Everyone turned to face the white haired heiress. She paused, "Look, I know I've been difficult with this sort of thing in the past. But I'm being serious, you don't have to worry about that with us. We're your friends, after all."  
JNPR was silent. 

Nora leapt to her feet and immediately jumped to Weiss, wrapping her arms around her in a hug. Pyrrha's lip quivered as tears formed in her eyes. When she thought about this day, she imagined a heated fight. And it was a well known fact that Pyrrha could deal with combat, not conflict. Such a positive reaction was a fantastic weight off of her shoulders. Her dark haired teammate placed his hand on her shoulder, rubbing her back with his other hand. Jaune moved to sit on her other side and pulled her body towards him. Ruby and Yang smiled at each other, moving around the table to hug the three. It didn't take long for the final member of JNPR to notice this and leap atop the group hug, nearly knocking the sisters' off of their feet. The huge grin on her face seemed to set off a chain reaction, as each of them let the infectious laughter creep out of their mouths. Even Blake managed to chuckle.  
"Thank you, guys," Jaune finally said, after their laughter had subsided.   
"No problem, vomit-boy."


	2. Little Lotus (part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The only person who had ever seen Lie Ren cry was Nora Valkyrie. And even she had only seen him cry once. After all, when your best friend gets struck by lightning in the middle of a powerful storm, it would probably be difficult for even your semblance to hide your emotions. So when the team was awoken by the quiet hiccups of the most stoic member of the team, they were more than concerned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did say that this one would be better than the first. But hey, here ya go. I hope you enjoy this big ol' bit of JNPR angst.

The only person who had ever seen Lie Ren cry was Nora Valkyrie. And even she had only seen him cry once. After all, when your best friend gets struck by lightning in the middle of a powerful storm, it would probably be difficult for even your semblance to hide your emotions. So when the team was awoken by the quiet hiccups of the most stoic member of the team, they were more than concerned.  
The leader was the first to wake.  
"Ren?" He called out into the darkness, unsure of who the sobs were coming from. He knew exactly what Pyrrha sounded like when upset, and it was the same with Nora. Though he had no way of recognising the shorter male's pain.  
He got no reply. Although, he was fairly certain by this point of who it was. The blonde was laying on the other side of the bed, the smaller form of Nora pressed against his front, and the young champion just behind her. Eyes adjusting to the darkness, he finally managed to make out where his troubled companion was. Gently manuvering so as to not wake the soundly sleeping pair, he slipped out from under the covers, and tip-toed around the bed. Considering this bed was made up of four single ones, it took a fair few seconds to do so.  
"Hey-" he whispered, leaning back down to sit on the soft duvet. The boy lifted his hand to push Ren's jet black locks behind his ear as softly as he could. By dust, he was not prepared to see such pain in those beautiful, blossom pink eyes. 

Dry tear tracks were washed away by fresh ones, droplets dripping down his pale face and falling to the floor. His pupils were dilated and shimmering, and his lip quivered as he struggled to mute his cries. Thick and messy, long hair almost completely hid his face, had it not been for Jaune pushing back a small amount. Shoulders hunched, and back arched, the boy shook lightly, another small sound emerging from his lips. 

Jaune almost wanted to cry himself. He hated seeing any of his team like this, but with Ren it was different. Pyrrha was an emotional person, though she didn't exactly show it often. But when she did, it was like a waterfall. She would cling to her boyfriends and girlfriend for hours on end, until eventually, she would either fall asleep in their arms, or she would let her tears subside, and they would make the rest of their day a little more Pyrrha centric. Of course, she would always complain, saying that they didn't need to got to this much effort for her, but she still adored it. She adored the fact that she knew what lengths her team would go to in order to improve her mood.  
However, Nora would generally prefer to be alone. She was similar to Yang in a variety of ways, especially when it came to emotions. The usually bouncy and bubbly girl hated the thought of people pitying her. And even though she knew none of her close friends would do that, she would still avoid communicating for a short while. Perhaps simply pushing one of the beds to the edge of the dorm temporarily and facing the wall.  
But even so, JNPR had decided, that whenever a team member was upset, they would take the day for themselves, spending time in the dorm. Even when it was a school day. 

But with Ren, he could feel the pain and emotion radiating from him. And Jaune didn't know what to do. Ren was staring back at him, sorrow filling his eyes, and Jaune did not know what to do. Except, the blonde only had a few moments to contemplate what actions he should take, before Ren threw himself into his arms, quickly locking his hands together across Jaune's back, and burying his tearstained face into the leader's shoulder. Sobs wracked his body now, having given up trying to hold them in. Jaune's shoulder dampened as more and more tears sprung the boy's eyes, some of his hair beginning to plaster itself to his face.  
It was at this point that the P and N of JNPR began to stir. 

For the first time in her life, Nora was uncertain of what to do with Ren. When she had been struck by lightning, he had only shed a few tears, his panic and fear finally escaping him for the first time since Kuroyuri. Though, she didn't know what to do now. They had been through hell and back together, but Ren had always remained strong for her. He kept a straight face so that she felt more comfortable with expressing herself. But because she was at such a young age, she didn't realise what pain her new companion was putting himself through.  
And so, she chose to speedily leap over Pyrrha without a word, and lean against her partners back, resting her hands on his front as she pressed her cheek into his bare back. 

To begin with, Pyrrha was slightly confused as to what was going on. Was Jaune crying? All she could hear was the cries of a male voice. No, it couldn't have been Jaune. His voice wasn't that deep. It didn't take long for it to become apparent to the athlete that Jaune and Nora were no longer in front of her under the covers, and the body warmth of Ren was no longer radiating into her back. Slowly, she began to turn herself over as she lifted her body off of the bed. She was welcomed coldly with the sight of her three partners locked in a tight embrace, Nora hugging Ren's shaking form, while Jaune fought back his own tears as he returned the raven haired boy's tight grip. The redhead shuffled closer to the trio, sitting cross-legged beside Ren. She would've hugged him, but it seemed that all of the space available for doing so had been taken. So she decided to instead show him that she was there by placing her hand on his leg and rubbing comforting circles with her thumb. It wasn't much, but it demonstrated her support well enough. 

Lie Ren was one of the kindest people they knew. To onlookers, it would seem that he was cold, that he payed no attention to those he called his teammates. But to those who truly knew him, they knew that he would do anything for them. In fact, he practically had. He supervised Nora's antics day by day, always choosing to take part of the blame whenever she got in trouble. He helped to keep her bubbly personality in check. Though nowadays, she wasn't quite as bad, because for the most part she was with at least one member of her team, and although that member would usually be Ren, on the occasions that it wasn't, she would behave slightly better when not in his presence than she used to. On top of that, he had saved her countless times. Hell, Ren had saved her life with his semblance when the pair first met. And from that moment onwards, until Beacon, they were always by each others side, looking out for each other and keeping each other safe. Ren meant the world to Nora. Team JNPR was their world. And seeing him hurting only made her hurt too.

Pyrrha had found that she could spend time with Ren without having to converse. She appreciated that. She loved the fact that just being with him was enough for the both of them. The warrior had found someone somewhat similar to herself in Ren. Both of them found joy in the little things. There were occasions in which the two of them would sit on the grass of the campus as the sun disappeared below the landscape, books in hand, while Nora and Jaune sparred a short distance away from them. And when she was upset, he was like her rock. He would listen to what she had to say, and hold her when she wept. He wouldn't interrupt, he wouldn't advise her on what to do in a situation. He would simply listen. But now, she could just listen as the only sound in the JNPR dorm room was that of the tears of the usually calm and collected young man.

Ren was one of the only people to take Jaune seriously when he started at Beacon. He offered support in and out of studying, even when he had his own work to get done. They had spent hours slaving over homework, trying to learn together. Originally, the relationship they had built together was one of brotherhood, which both of them adored. Jaune was the only male in a group of seven sisters, and the only thing close to a sibling that Ren had ever had was Nora, though it was not hard to guess that the two of them were always likely to turn out to be more than just that. But when Jaune had started to develop feelings for Ren as well as Pyrrha and Nora, he had no idea what to do. In fact, he was scared. He truly believed there was something wrong with him, until the group finally sat down and discussed it. He learned that all of them felt the same way as him. And when he brought up the fact that he had never loved another man before, Ren simply stood up, took a few steps towards the blonde, and hugged him. Nearly stumbling backwards, Jaune felt a massive wave of relief wash over him. He loved these people with all of his heart. And yet, still, no one knew what was upsetting the raven haired boy.

Nora had taken to rubbing Ren's chest, as it was beginning to seem as if he was having trouble breathing through his tears. This was when Jaune started attempting to calm him down. Usually he would just let Pyrrha cry when she needed to, but it was beginning to get to the point where the trio were worried Ren was doing damage to himself.  
Phrases like "It's okay," and "we're here," were uttered over and over, along with a fair amount of gentle shushing. The boy was beginning to cough, and Jaune leant him back slightly so that he could look at him.  
"Breathe," he spoke softly, "you need to breathe, Ren."  
Jaune demonstrated a few times, breathing in and out, before Ren began attempting to copy, water still streaming down his face. Nora had now let go of his chest, and was rubbing circles on his back now, instead of his front. All the while, Pyrrha's hand remained on his leg, her thumb moving gently against skin.  
Jaune continued to stare into his distressed teammate's magenta eyes as he breathed slowly, letting Ren copy.  
Eventually, his coughing began to subside, and the river of tears dripping down his shaking chin began to slow down. His body still shook slightly, but at least now he was breathing properly. The blonde and the raven haired boys gazed at each other for a few moments more, before the raven boy leaned in once more to embrace the taller of the two.  
Ren was unsure if any of them heard him, but a small "thank you," was whispered before he sat back up again. There were still tears falling down his face, but it was okay. He was okay.

Ren shuffled slightly, so that he could see each of his teammates faces. His family. Although, he was slightly taken aback by the individual looks of worry and concern painting each of their features. None of them said anything. They were aware that Ren was trying to work out what to say. They were patient. Jaune placed his hand on Ren's leg comfortingly, and as Ren turned to look at him, he smiled softly. Ren sighed. He felt horrific. He had made them worry so much. And not only that, his throat felt like someone had just run sandpaper down it a hundred times.  
He took Pyrrha's hand in his right, and Nora's in his left. He began with two simple words.  
"I'm sorry."

Pyrrha replied almost immediately. She was not going to let him do the same thing she did for years. "For what?" She answered, "Ren, it's okay to be upset about something. No matter how little you deem it." Smiling, she squeezed his palm gently.  
His lip quivered again, "I- I-" he stuttered. Jaune interrupted, "It's alright Ren. We're not going to laugh, we're not going to judge you. We just want to know why you're upset because we're worried. We love you, Ren. We care."  
A few more tears sprung to his eyes, "I- I love you. So much." He leant against Jaune's shoulder, letting his head rest against him, closing his eyes.  
Nora hugged her childhood friend, tightly, "We love you, alright. And don't you forget it, little lotus."  
Ren smiled shyly at the nickname, "I- I had a nightmare. I know it's petty, and I know I shouldn't have worried you, but it- it felt... so real," he moved his gaze to his hands in his lap. The concerned trio shared glances.  
"Do you mind us asking what it was about?" Pyrrha asked.  
Ren inhaled, "I promise I'll tell you. But not now. Could I in the morning?" He replied, getting quieter word by word.  
The blonde leader smiled, "Of course you can. And on top of that, we'll take the day off from lessons too," he looked at each member of his team each of them with some trace of a smile on their face. Though Jaune had also noticed that Ren was a little warmer than usual while he had his face buried in his leader's shoulder. It might have simply been due to Ren "overworking" himself as per say, but Jaune didn't want to take any chances.  
The blonde concernedly placed his hand on the shorter boy's forehead, confirming his thoughts.  
"Yeah, we're definitely staying here tomorrow," he dropped his hand, "that might've been why you had a nightmare. You've got a fever."  
"Have I?"  
"You do feel a little warm," Nora added, still attached to Ren.  
Pyrrha snuck a quick glance at the alarm clock sat on the furthest bed side table. 02:41. She turned back to the others, "I highly doubt any of us are gonna get any more sleep now. So we might as well turn one of the lamps on and do something."  
Nora immediately lit up, "oh, oh! We could play cards! I've always wanted to know how to play cards."  
J*PR laughed at her outburst for a moment before Jaune interrupted, "you know it isn't just 'cards', right?" He chuckled, "it's more than just one game, Nora."  
"Wait, what?!" 

Twenty minutes later, team JNPR was sat laughing on their oversized bed, huddled in a circle playing a game of rummy (or at least trying to. Nora was still struggling.) They had decided that since Ren and Nora had never played cards before that they should be in teams. Boys vs Girls. 

Ren was leaning his back against Jaune's chest, sat comfortably in his lap. Surprisingly, Jaune's gargantuan height was rather convenient in a few situations, as he was capable of resting his head on Ren's, without causing either any discomfort. Though whether that was Jaune being incredibly tall, or Ren being rather short, was unknown. Jaune could feel for certain now that Ren had a fever, his body temperature much higher than usual. At some point, Nora had run to the bathroom to fill up a glass of water for the Lotus, and it now rested half finished in his hands. Unfortunately, his temperature had gotten higher in quite a short amount of time, though Ren wasn't complaining. He was surrounded by a group of people that loved him very, very much. And that was all he needed to know.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is part 1 of 2, though i don't know when the next part is gonna be out, hopefully by the end of next week. I spent my entire day writing, so that's why i managed to get out 2 chapters in 1 day. But anyway, thank you for reading, feel free to leave comments or any constructive critism.


	3. Fear of conflict

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It had been a question on Ruby's mind for a while. Though the answer she recieved was far from the answer she was expecting. It wasn't long until she regretted asking in the first place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I KNOW I SAID THE LAST CHAPTER WAS A TWO PARTER, IT'S ON IT'S WAY. I just have had this idea in my head for a while now, and thought this might be interesting.   
> Essencially, this is my headcannon that those black things under Ren's sleeves, are muscle and joint supports, and the reason why he has those cool-ass gloves from v4 onwards is cause they're slightly more jazzy versions of the supports. I thought I might give the idea a backstory and all that.  
> (I promise not all of the chapters are gonna be Ren centric. I'm gonna finish the two parter and then I'm gonna do one focussing on Pyrrha.)

"Hey Ren? What're those things under your sleeves?"

The sound of a female voice suddenly brought Ren back to reality as he jumped slightly in his seat. Oops. He hadn't realised he had gotten quite so invested in his book. Blake had recommended it to him, though, at first it really didn't seem like his type of read, he was now beginning to rather enjoy it. 'Ninjas of lo'-  
"Helloooo? Earth to Ren? You still in there?"  
Ren lifted his head to look at the girl across the table from him. He cleared is throat, "sorry, Ruby. I... didn't hear what you said," there was a slight hint of guilt in his voice, "could you repeat it please?"  
Ruby smiled happily, "of course! I was just wondering what those things are under your sleeves," she replied, "it's just, you're always wearing them, even in fights. But judging by the thickness of them, surely they must be quite limiting."  
Ren could almost see the curiosity dripping from her tongue.   
Now, usually, the boy would have absolutely no problem with Ruby asking him a question about himself. Unfortunately, this particular question, if Ruby insisted on the full answer, would require Ren to look back at one of the most difficult times in his and Nora's life.   
And right now, he did not want to do that.

He could see Nora begin to twiddle her fingers and tap her feet anxiously in Pyrrha's lap from the corner of his eye. He was well aware that this probably wasn't a conversation she wanted to overhear either. They already had to have this challenging discussion once before with their teammates. Let's just say, Ren had very quickly exhausted himself due to overuse of his semblance.  
The raven haired boy felt the comforting hand of Jaune rest on his leg as he gently squeezed his thigh. As if to say, "I'm here if you need me."  
Ren inhaled deeply, before deciding to give quite a brief answer.  
"They're joint and muscle supports. I wear them to prevent my arms from causing me too much discomfort."  
At this, the rest of team RWBY speedily perked up, turning to face him, expressions of both confusion and concern painting their faces. Hell, he could almost see Blake's ears spike upwards from under her bow.  
Weiss picked the conversation back up, "why? Is there something wrong with your arms?"  
Again Jaune squeezed his leg. Ren responded by placing his hand on Jaune's and squeezing back. Ren had hoped this could just be simple. He was lucky that it was now the evening, and the cafeteria was long empty. They were alone. The two teams had decided earlier that day that they should try and hang out somewhere a little more peaceful, so that they could properly talk and such. Ruby had noticed Ren wasn't engaging as much and thought it might be an opportunity to ask something she had been meaning to for a while. Little did she know it would spark a conversation a little larger than she originally anticipated.

"You could say that, yes," Ren replied, Jaune now beginning to feel the effects of his boyfriend's semblance as it began to kick in, the Lotus' adrenalin level starting to rise.   
Yang continued this time, a serious tone in her voice for the first time in a while. "What's wrong with them?" She hesitated, "did something happen?"  
Ren chuckled coldly to himself as his eyes began to drift downwards, "you could say that."  
Jaune stepped in, feeling a powerful jolt of Ren's aura all of a sudden. "Is it alright if we continue this discussion another time? We're all tired and I know we have studying to do-"  
"It's alright Jaune. They're our friends, they should know." He gave a quick glance towards his girlfriends, a sad smile on his face. They returned his expression.  
"Are you sure?" Jaune lowered his tone.  
"Yes. It's okay."  
Jaune sighed, "It's perfectly fine if you wanna stop at any point."  
"I know, Jaune. Thank you." Ren gave Jaune's thigh a brief squeeze. It was their silent version of Nora's 'boop'. And it was just as comforting. 

"It was about 4 years ago, Nora and I had been travelling alone for years by that point.."

\---------------------------

"Nora, not that I doubt your map reading skills, but are you absolutely certain we're going the right way?"  
"Yes of course I am. Why wouldn't we be? Jeez Ren, I'm not incompetent."  
"We left the path hours ago."  
"It's a shortcut."  
"Through a Grimm infested forest?"  
"Yep."  
"While the sun is about to go down and a storm is rolling in?"  
"Mhm."  
"When we have virtually no food or water left?"  
"Ye- wait. What?"  
It had been about two weeks since the pair had passed by civilisation. And by this point, they were running dangerously low on supplies. A low roar of thunder crashed a short distance away from them, making Nora yelp.  
"Okay, maybe you're right," the ginger said, her voice shaking a little as she made her way over to her friend.   
"We need to find shelter somewhere," Ren began to walk, at a much faster pace than before.  
"Sounds good to me!" Nora followed quickly behind her companion.

The thirteen year olds had much less time than they thought. Less than ten minutes later, rain was pounding heavy on them like gunfire, and lightning was striking trees all around them, creating a cascade of destruction. They needed a cave. That would be the only safe place in a storm like this. Although, it certainly wasn't often that a storm quite so powerful as this one would roll in. In fact, Ren and Nora had only ever heard about them, but they had never encountered them before, even though they had spent the majority of the past six years surviving outside. 

"C'mon! We need to hurry!" Ren yelled, hoping Nora could hear him over the growling of the clouds above.  
"I'm trying my best! I can barely see you!" Nora replied, slightly louder than Ren.  
Ren speedily found her through the rainfall and took her hand, another gargantuan roar sounding from all around them. He wasted no time, he started running.  
"Ren!" Nora called, for once struggling to keep up with her friend. He voiced no reply. "Ren, stop!"  
"We don't have time!"  
"But that wasn't-!"  
"Come on!"   
"STOP!" At that, Nora yanked him to a halt, almost using her full strength.   
"What, Nora?!"  
The young teen pointed ahead, her hand shaking in both cold, and fear. "Look."  
Sure enough, a large Ursa slowly emerged from the bushes in front of the two, crawling out on all four paws before slowly, menacingly, terrifyingly, began to rear up onto it's hind legs, towering above the two cold, shaking children, before letting out a mighty, earpiercing roar.  
Ren leapt into action a speedily as he could, grabbing Nora and pulling her out of the way of the Ursa's charge, and swiftly placing them both behind a tree.  
"We need to get out of here," Nora uttered fearfully.  
Meanwhile, Ren was attempting to scan the area for an escape route before the creature tried to charge once more. He had a plan. A poor one, but it was a plan.  
"I'm going to distract it. While I've got it's attention, I want you to run. When you're far enough away, I'll start to follow and we can try and lose it in the brush."  
"That is literally the worst plan you could've come up with."  
"Too bad," Ren replied, getting up and putting himself back in the line of view of the monster. 

"Hey!" It snapped it's neck towards him immediately at the sound of his voice, "Yeah, that's it! Just keep you're eyes on me!" The boy started to sidestep, encouraging the Ursa to do the same. Ren caught sight of Nora starting to sprint in the opposite direction to him. Any second now would be the perfect opportunity for him to follow after her, and everything would be fine. They were going to be just-  
"REN LOOK OUT!"  
His focus was snapped back to reality, giving him just enough time to dive out of the way of the creature's charge. Though, for Nora, it was all well and good saving Ren, but now their opponent was locked onto her instead. Her shout had revealed her position, and now it was gearing up to storm at the ginger too.   
God, Ren wished he had proper control of his semblance. 

Nora was visibly horrified. Her body was shaking, her eyes were wide and pupils miniscule. She had no idea what to do. She froze. She had no clue what was happening until her best friend was diving towards her, pushing her out of the way at the last second, sacrificing himself for her. The creature shoved the boy, hard, landing directly on top of his arms, crushing them under its body weight. Nora hoped she would never hear that scream of pain coming from him ever again. Ren would've been dead within seconds had it not been for the Huntsmen, seemingly to have appeared from nowhere. They would later find out that a nearby village had heard the cry of a Grimm, and had sent men out to see what the problem was. Had it not been for them, Ren wouldn't be telling this tale to team RWBY. 

\---------------------------

"It took months for me to recuperate. To heal. But that village was full of kind and welcoming people, and they housed me and Nora for nearly a year. Even when we left that village though, my arms would still never be the same. I would have times where I would be in pain for no reason, and times where I couldn't fight or train. But when we joined Beacon, when we finally had some lien to spare, one of the first things Nora did for me was take me out to buy some properly fitted supports. And now I wear them all the time."  
He flashed a brief smile at his team, in an attempt to show that he was okay. Though in truth, the demonic image of a gigantic Grimm inches from his face, the searing pain that coursed through his body, and the deafening cacophony of sound: it wasn't uncommon for it to visit him in his dreams.   
He turned back to RWBY. They were speechless. Yang began apologising, saying it was rude of her to press like that.   
"It's perfectly fine, Yang. You're our friends," he said "I probably should've told you sooner actually."  
Blake, looked somewhat troubled. "Did Ozpin know?"  
Actually, Ren wasn't sure. The headmaster liked to interview each of his students individually at some point within their first few weeks of attending. But Ren hadn't brought this particular subject up. Ozpin knew about his and Nora's past, though the older Huntsman didn't press for details. However, it was true Nora could've brought up the subject. Although, the situation was just as traumatic for her as it was for him, so it was unlikely. Logically, the answer to that question would be no. But with Ozpin, you never could tell.   
"No. He didn't."  
The faunus' reponse was swift and stern, "You should've told him."  
"Blake-" Yang protested.  
"No. You should've." She turned her body fully, to face Ren. Only Ren. "What if in training at some point, someone were to hurt you? What if someone were to damage your arms to the point of no repair? What if they freeze up in the middle of a fight with Grimm? What if you're in a situation on your own, no contact with anyone and- and a flock of Nevermore begin to attack, one of them hurts your arms, and you can't fight. What would you do then?"  
She paused, for breath. Still glaring a the boy across the table, of whom was now staring down at his lap. "These injuries could be the difference between life and death."

Ren was overusing his semblance. He was painfully aware of that. At this rate, it wouldn't be long before he passed out in Jaune's arms.  
Blake had had it. "Are you even listening?!"  
"That is enough." Jaune spoke stern and strong, his voice echoing across the empty hall as he stood, forcing Blake to look up at him in order to make eye contact. Sure, Nora could fight for herself, and even Pyrrha would hold her own, despite her hatred of conflict. But Ren... he didn't just have a hatred for conflict. He feared it. He was scared of fighting with those he was close to, for fear of losing them. Blake sat back down reluctantly, earning a slap upside the head from Yang. Blake glared at her, though she knew both of her friends were right. One look at Ren proved that.   
Nora had already made her way over to him, and was hugging him tightly from behind. She knew how to handle those who would attack them. But she didn't know how to handle friends attacking them. In fact, she knew Blake was right. That was another part of the reason why she didn't retaliate. Although, she was glad Jaune stepped in when he did. As soon as she lay one finger on Ren, her mind was flushed with forced relief. He was close to losing consciousness. Nora looked back up, to be greeted with the concerned expressions of her teammates, and of RWBY. She could tell Blake regretted her words, but the ginger was still furious. She would be having 'words' with her later. Before she could look back down at her childhood friend, he spoke, barely a whisper.

"I would keep fighting." 

The faunus looked up from the floor, only to see the lotus boy staring directly at her, "what?" She replied, nearly stuttering her words.  
"I would keep fighting. Through the pain," he paused to look a the people surrounding him. The people who he loved, and who loved him. "I have people who love me. And I love them too. The thought of them would keep me alive."   
He was completely aware that it was cheesiest thing he'd ever said, but he didn't care. He had a point to make, and he made it. 

His team helped him from his seat, Nora and Pyrrha taking him by the hand as they left the cafeteria, Jaune taking a moment to glare at Blake one last time. As soon as they were alone, Ren ceased his usage of aura. Though tears began to roll down his face, he let them. Though Jaune came from behind him, lifting and carrying him to their dorm bridal style, he let him. The lotus rested his head against his boyfriend's shoulder, letting his eyes slip closed as he drifted into a deep sleep.   
He had no nightmares that night.  
It was just darkness.  
And Ren.   
Until slowly, his team faded into view, first Nora, then Jaune, and Pyrrha. Then followed RWBY, Ruby, Weiss, Yang, and though it took a little more time, Blake. 

He knew she cared. That was why she yelled.  
These injuries could be the difference between life and death, she said.  
I know, he replied.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed. Feel free to leave comments and constructive critism.


	4. Little Lotus (part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pyrrha wasn't wrong. The team didn't actually manage to fall asleep until around five in the morning. Ren was the first to fall into slumber, having tired himself out earlier, and it wasn't long after that that Jaune let his eyes slip closed also. Before Nora could follow, Pyrrha asked something she had been meaning to do a few hours.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a little shorter than the first part, but I think it's still alright. I did say the next one after this would be Pyrrha centric, so that's what imma do. I hope you enjoy.

Pyrrha wasn't wrong. The team didn't actually manage to fall asleep until around five in the morning. Ren was the first to fall into slumber, having tired himself out earlier, and it wasn't long after that that Jaune let his eyes slip closed also. Before Nora could follow, Pyrrha asked something she had been meaning to do a few hours.  
"Has this sort of thing happened before?"  
Nora faced her tiredly, "no, it hasn't." she paused, as if deep in thought for a moment, "in fact, nothing like this has ever happened. Ren's had plenty of nightmares before, and it would stop him from sleeping for a little while, but they've never caused that sort of reaction."  
She turned towards the boy in question, and softly cupped his now peaceful face with her hand. "You scared me, Renny," she almost whispered.  
Pyrrha chose not to speak up again. Instead, she placed herself just behind Jaune on the bed, wrapping her arms around his torso, and nestling her face into his back. Nora moved herself into a similar position behind Ren. Pyrrha watched as a faint smile appeared on the Lotus' face, and couldn't help but grin herself. The shorter redhead twisted slightly to switch off the bedside lamp, and uttered a quiet, "Goodnight, guys. I love you."  
Though the only response she received was from Pyrrha, she was fully aware that if the boys were awake, they would've replied in the same way.

Nora wasn't surprised to find that she managed to wake first. She liked to get up early in order to make the most out of the day. However, even on a normal day, her team (mainly Ren) liked to get as much sleep as possible. But alas, today was not a normal day. Their leader had stated that the four would take the day off today, and that they would.  
As per usual, the group's sleeping positions had changed drastically throughout the night, Ren now lying stomach down on top of Jaune, his head the blondes chest, rising and falling steadily as he respired. Pyrrha was on her side, facing towards the boys and the ginger, her face pressed into Jaune's neck and shoulders, her flaming red hair decorating the pillow. Nora awoke on her back, on the opposite side of the bed to Pyrrha, though after a few moments of consciousness, she realised her hand left hand was intertwined with Ren's. The huntress turned to face him, finding the faintest of smiles on his face. It surprised her how he could go from being so emotional, to looking quite as peaceful as this in only a short amount of time. 

Straightening her back upwards, in order to look over her partner's, she made an attempt to check the alarm clock. 09:47. Classes will have started over an hour ago. No going back now. It was nice to be able to sleep in with her team. To be able to wake up and see all members present. Usually, Pyrrha would drag Jaune out of bed at an ungodly hour in order to go for a 'brisk morning jog in order to help to wake him up'. Somehow, Pyrrha was still managing to trick herself into thinking it was effective, even when Jaune was returning to the dorm even more tired than when he first got out of bed. Nora chuckled quietly. JNPR was the probably the dorkiest team to ever walk the earth.

'Well,' she thought, 'no use just sitting here and starting at my team. Might as well get up.'  
She ripped the covers off of her, and swung her legs over the side of the mattress, hitting her heels gently on the wooden posts holding the bed up. Wincing slightly at the noise created, she hoped she hadn't disturbed her team. Alas, her hope was in vain.  
Ren shuffled slightly, squeezing his eyes shut before opening them into a squint, revealing his spectacular blossom eyes to the world.  
"Nora?" He whispered, halfway through a yawn, "morning." He decided not to get up, instead remaining where he was, head on his boyfriend's chest.  
Nora shuffled backwards a short distance, and turned her body around, bringing her legs back onto the bed. She tilted her head to the same level as Ren's, and pushed a few strands of dark hair behind his ear. "Morning, little lotus. Sleep well?"  
He gave a soft smile, "like a rock."  
Nora huffed softly, before leaning in and kissing the boys forehead, "you feeling any better?" she asked.  
"Not much, no. I've got a little bit of a headache now."

Pyrrha lifted her body up, so that she could be seen over both her stacked boyfriends.  
"Well that's no good," she said, sitting up, "Jaune and I will make sure to go and get some medicine in a little while."  
The smaller boy turned his head so her could look at his other girlfriend, "thank you, Pyr."  
He hesitated, "though, I doubt Jaune is going to wake up any time soon."  
"Well that can always be fixed," Nora spoke, slyly.  
"Nora, no."  
"What? I wasn't gonna do anything."  
Ren raised an eyebrow.  
"I wasn't gonna do anything bad."  
"Sure," Pyrrha replied, chuckling slightly.

The raven haired teen pushed himself a little closer to Jaune's face. He began running his fingers through the boys yellow locks, eventually causing the taller of the two to stir.  
"Morning, goldilocks."  
Jaune turned his head to see all of his team gazing at him, with both looks of affection, and amusement.  
"M'kay, I can't help but feel I've missed something here and do not appreciate it."  
"Not at all, Jaune," Pyrrha responded, giggling to herself.  
The blonde pouted, "not buyin' it."  
The trio shared a moment of laughter at their leader's expense, until Ren rested his head just beneath Jaune's. Placing his hands on Ren's back, he could still feel that Ren was much warmer than normal. "How're you feeling?" He raised a hand to the Lotus' forehead. Yep, still got a fever.  
"Not great."  
Jaune sighed, "yeah, I can tell. You've still got a pretty high fever."  
"I just hope I don't end up throwing up," Ren replied, grimacing at the thought.  
"Maybe so, but it might make you feel better," Pyrrha responded, playing with his hair.  
Ren huffed. He really did not like being sick.  
"And besides, at least you've got us here!" Nora said.  
Ren smiled, "that's true."

Pyrrha let her legs fall off of the bed, "well, I should probably go and get that medicine then if you wanna stand a chance of not vomi-"  
"No!"  
Ren had suddenly moved from his comfortable position atop Jaune and had in a matter of milliseconds grabbed Pyrrha by the hand to stop her from continuing to get up. Jaune and Nora looked glanced at each other, confused.  
He quickly realised what he had done, "erm, I- I mean-"  
"Hey, it's okay. I can stay if you want me to," Pyrrha reassured him, sitting back down.  
Ren avoided her gaze, "I- I'm sorry, I just wanted to- to talk about last night. Before you leave I mean. I want to get it out of the way."  
Pyrrha smiled, "Of course. Let's do that, then."

\--------------------------------------

"It wasn't like my normal nightmares. I've gotten used to those ones. I can deal with them."  
Nora spoke up, "and they're about- 'it.'"  
"Yeah- 'it.'"  
The four were now sat up, Ren in Jaune's lap, Nora and Pyrrha sat by either side of them.  
"This was different," he continued, Jaune wrapping his arms around Ren's stomach, pulling him closer to his torso. Though he was cautious so as to not overheat the smaller boy, "it wasn't about Kuroyuri."  
He inhaled, closing his eyes for a moment, "it was about you guys."

It was an understatement to say that they were taken aback. The trio shared a brief glance before turning their attention back to Ren. Though, Jaune took a moment to appreciate the fact that he wasn't feeling the effects of Ren's semblance. He was incredibly glad to know that Ren trusted them enough to talk without a filter. However, the previous night had been proof of that also. Still, he felt honoured knowing that he was one of the only people Ren didn't wear a mask with.  
"I don't really want to go into too many details. But, to make it short, I watched all of you die," the volume of his voice depleted as the sentence continued, "and I was powerless to stop it. You were all calling, begging for me to help you, and I-," he hesitated for a moment, "I didn't."

Silence.

Not even Nora knew what to say. Ren had already had to witness his family perish, she couldn't imagine what would happen to him if his team was to leave him too. Gaze dropping, Ren chose not to look at them. He didn't want to see their pitying looks.  
Though the trio were exchanging glances, they were not ones of pity. Pyrrha pushed herself forward, raising her hand to gently lift Ren's chin to look at her. She smiled softly at him, her eyes full of compassion and sympathy, and wrapped her arms around the boys shoulders, Jaune moving back a little to give her room to do so. Ren was taken aback, though it didn't take him long to sink into the embrace. Nora chose to put her arms around the pair as Jaune leant in once more to hug all three of them.  
No one was sure how long they were sat there for. But every second of it was pure bliss. Suddenly, Ren's breathing became louder as tears started to form in his eyes again. Nora and Pyrrha pulled away, to find not only tears rolling down his face, but also a smile on his lips, eyes full of true, genuine love.  
Jaune tightened his grip around the smaller boy's torso, squeezing him gently. Pyrrha didn't seem to notice as droplets began to fall down her cheeks too, her expression mirroring Ren's. The redhead chuckled as she wiped Ren's damp cheek, the lotus leaning into the touch. The ginger on his other side took his hands and cupped her own palms around them, gazing deep into his magenta eyes. They had somehow developed a way of knowing what the other is thinking simply by reading their expression. Ren voiced her mind for her, "I love you, so much."  
He did not stutter, his voice did not lose its volume. He spoke true as the day.  
Jaune hummed quietly in reponse, his eyes closed as he pressed his face into raven hair.  
"Thank you," Ren said, "for being here. For caring."  
Pyrrha's response was quick, "We're always here, silly."  
"Whenever you need us," Nora continued.  
Jaune opened his eyes, "you shouldn't be afraid to talk to us, Ren. We would never judge you, or laugh at you. We love you, Ren. And that isn't about to change."  
The blonde kissed his cheek only moments before Nora knocked the two over with a shockingly strong hug. She nuzzled her face into Ren's chest lovingly, despite the fact that she had only seconds beforehand knocked all of the air out of his lungs. It was her way of saying she loved you. Pyrrha held her breath in an attempt to hold in her laughter, though it was in vain. An explosion a giggles filled the room as Ren and Jaune quickly caught the contagious bout of laughter, still laying under the weight of Nora, who was now also beginning to chuckle. 

Though Ren still had a headache, and his stomach still felt a little iffy, he didn't care. He was still happy.  
They were all exactly where they wanted to be. Their partner's surrounding them, in a room full of only love, and safety. For the first time in years, Ren and Nora were the happiest they had ever been. With those they loved.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah. Here it is. I have literally only been writing for the past 4 days. Yeah it's kinda been a blur.  
> But anyway, I hope you enjoyed. As usual, feel free to comment or share any constructive critisism, it's always appreciated. Thank you for reading!


	5. The Battle of Beacon retold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An alternate version of the Battle of Beacon. In which no one dies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is a little rushed and stuff, but you get the idea of it. I said I would make it Pyrrha centric, but it's kinda more focussed on all of the members of JNPR. And a little bit of Sun and Neptune. I hope you enjoy.

Flames rose high around her, putting her own bright hair to shame. Wisps of ash and dust decorated the sky, outshining the distant stars and turning the shattered moon a bright shade of orange. Her vision was blurry, pools of water forming inside them, as her lungs were invaded by the thick, black smoke. She was fully aware that her doom was looming, that was evident enough when a gargantuan Grimm Dragon began swooping above her, it's eyes never tearing away from her. It's body was completely black, like any Grimm, and it's face took the form of a skull of sorts. But the most menacing part were the fangs, large enough to skewer 4 men at once. Its long, muscle-bound body was decorated in blood, sticking to it's fur and scales, dripping from it's razor sharp talons. And though she had shed blood at this Grimm's claws, she was certain most of it did not belong to her, as if it did, she would be long dead by now.

Even so, her death was just around the corner. And she was very aware of that. She had made peace with it as soon as she kissed her team leader. If only she could have done the same with her other two partners. Even though she had told Jaune to tell them she was sorry, and that she loved them, he would probably forget in all of the panic of the situation. She didn't blame him. Pyrrha didn't want it to end this way either. But it was far too late now.   
She had sealed her fate.  
Black and orange, a woman's silhouette emerged from the fire, using a conjured bow and arrow to bring the redhead to her knees. Ow. She may have accepted her fate, but an arrow to the heel hurt. Quite a lot.   
Swaying her hips side to side as she came closer and closer, Pyrrha could finally see her, Cinder, clearly. She made have been defeated, but she was quite proud of the damage she had inflicted on the fire weilder. Bruises and dirt scattered across her body, as well a fair few cuts, a couple of them dripping blood. None of them quite fatal, but they were still there.   
Cinder raised her bow once more, aiming for the redhead's chest. Pyrrha wasn't going to go down in silence.  
"Do you believe in destiny?"  
Cinder hesitated, slightly surprised that the girl would decide for those to be her last words.  
"Yes."  
One last word before the arrow was fired. 

A shield flew through the air. One belonging to a particular yellow haired leader. The arrow disintegrated, having caught Cinder off guard.   
"What?!" She screamed, turning to the side to face whomever threw the metal object.   
A tall boy, sword in hand, his body decorated in armour. A girl with bright ginger hair, wielding a gigantic hammer that towered above her. And a boy with long, jet black hair, and eyes the colour of blossom. All wearing the same, furious expression.  
These were things Cinder noticed.  
The things that Pyrrha noticed were quite different. Jaune's clothes were ripped, torn and bloody, and he looked as if he was developing a black eye. Nora had a deep gash across her left thigh, and dried blood painted her calf as if it was a canvas. The once clean and straight metal armour on her torso was now bent and scratched, and a few pieces of it were clearly missing. She too had smaller cuts and bruises all over her body, her skirt torn in places. Ren was leaning the majority of his weight onto his left leg, his right trouser leg not torn at all, but it was coated in blood. The once white colouring of it had completely washed away and had been replaced by a deep, dark maroon. Clutching his left shoulder, the young man was hunched forward, seemingly struggling to keep himself upright. The same maroon on his trouser leg was also soaked into his right side, his clothing almost torn to shreds in that area. It looked as if he had taken a heavy impact from something. Nora and Ren's aura had prevented each of them from losing too much blood, but they would both still need medical help soon. Pyrrha hoped Ren's injuries weren't as bad as they looked.

They shouldn't have come here.   
Pyrrha nearly yelled at them, screamed at them to go. To leave her here. But she could tell that wasn't going to happen. The redhead doubted that Jaune had intentionally come across their teammates. He had probably stumbled across them, told them what had happened and they had refused to leave him. They came here to save her.   
Pyrrha knew well enough they wouldn't be able to defeat the fire wielder in the condition that they were in. As did everyone else on the rooftop. But they still stood they're ground. Pyrrha wanted to hug them, but at the same time, she wanted to punch them for being so stupid. Now they would all die. Because of her.

"Get away from her." Jaune's voice was low, and intimidating. Pyrrha was slightly surprised.  
Cinder laughed, a hollow, empty sound, "or what, boy?"  
Jaune simply snarled in response. The warrior, still on her knees, noticed Ren and Nora share a subtle glance. What were they thinking? They're just going to accept their deaths? No, that couldn't be right. That wasn't her team. They must have had a plan. They had to.  
Cinder Fall chuckled once more, "that's what I though."  
Raising her bow, three arrows appeared from dust.  
"NO!" Pyrrha screamed, squeezing her eyes tightly shut, praying that this was all a dream, and it would be only a few seconds before she would wake up and everything would be okay.

Although, instead of hearing the twang of the bow string, she instead heard gunfire. The gunfire of Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang. She opened her eyes, one first, then the other, a sudden silence filling her ears. Cinder's bow sat before her, disintegrating. She raised her head.   
Sun Wukong.   
God, she never thought she would be this glad to see his face. The fire wielding witch was lying on the ground, a small puddle of blood forming beneath her. The monkey faunus had shot her down. Though, the redhead had no doubt she wouldn't be down for long.  
It was a distraction. Her team was a distraction.

Sun quickly moved to help the warrior onto her feet, putting her arm across his shoulders.   
"Hey, Pyrrha," he said, smiling sincerely, "We're getting you out of here."  
As she started to move, she began to feel each of her injuries burn and sting. It hadn't quite occurred to her how damaged her body actually was. She attempted to stifle the noises of pain and discomfort that were threatening to escape her mouth, though was failing. There was now someone else standing where her team just was, she believed it was Neptune, another member of team SSSN, but she couldn't quite tell through the smoke. All she knew was that they were getting closer. Jaune was sprinting up to her, as Ren and Nora moved as quickly as they could with their injuries, towards her. Their leader quickly took Pyrrha from Sun and ordered him and Neptune to help get her on his back. Pyrrha made an attempt to protest.  
"No, Pyr. You're hurt. You can't walk."  
"But-"  
"No, Pyrrha. As you're leader I am ordering you to do this."  
The athlete contemplated arguing back, but decided against it. She didn't want to make this situation any more stressful. 

A deafening roar echoed through the sky, shaking the building they were atop. They had forgotten about the Dragon.

"Shit!" Yelled Neptune, as the creature stooped towards the group.  
"Jaune, run," Ren spoke, "we'll catch up."  
"No. I'm not risking that," Jaune protested.   
"It's okay," Nora said, joining the argument, "we're not gonna fight it."  
"What the hell are you gonna do then? Stare at it?"  
"No," Sun answered, "we're gonna distract it."  
The dragon landed on the building, only about thirty feet away from them. It let out another ground shaking roar, smoke pluming out of its mouth.   
"Go!"  
Jaune hesitated for a moment. He had only just gotten one member of his team back, but was now leaving behind another two. He searched for a moment before finally finding the broken staircase that he and the other's had used to climb the tower, and began to make his way back down it as carefully as possible. Pyrrha had lost consciousness. She had done a fair while ago, otherwise she would have most certainly spoke up in the argument that he had just had with NR and SN a few seconds ago. She would also be very upset about this decision. Gunfire from Stormflower and Ruyi and Jingu Bang could be overheard from a few levels below. As well as every so often a round of grenades fired from Magnhild.   
Jaune hated himself for leaving them.

\-----------------------------------------

Neptune had never really been in many fights with Ren and Nora, though he was pretty sure that they weren't usually this stationary. Ren would usually be speeding across the battle ground, firing his Stormflower from all directions. Nora would be using her hammer a lot more frequently, and would be using her grenades to fly around her opponent, disorientating them. But right now, Ren was kneeling behind a large piece of metal and stone, using Stormflower from a further distance. And Nora had placed herself on the opposite side of the tower, and was only using the grenade feature of her weapon. They were both badly hurt. They needed to get out of there, fast.

Neptune stopped moving for a few seconds in order to locate his partner. Unsurprisingly, he was in an extremely unconventional place. Atop the dragon's head. The blue haired boy called, "Sun, over here!"  
Seeming to grab his attention, Neptune ran towards cover. It was only a few seconds before the faunus landed in front of him.   
"What's up?"  
"We need to get out of here," Neptune replied, "Ren's aura is gonna run out any second, and then he's gonna bleed out. And Nora can't walk properly."   
Sun was out of breath. He inhaled deeply as he looked around, taking in Neptune's info. Suddenly, "I've got it."  
He started to back up, in Nora's direction, "Grab Ren, bring him over towards the stairs."  
"What're you gonna do?"  
"You'll see!"

Neptune trusted his friend, but this wasn't really the sort of situation in which you say, 'you'll see'. But alas, it was too late to argue, as Sun was already too far away to hear him. Exhaling, he ran his fingers through his hair, turning on his heels in the ninja's direction.  
"Let's do this."  
He sprinted out into the open, the attention of the gargantuan monster immediately turning to him. It spun around, sweeping its tail like a weapon. Neptune checked over his shoulder just in time to see the 'cover' he was just behind shatter into pieces as the tail continued in his direction. He didn't even know his legs could move as fast as they were now, adrenaline racing through his veins like a drug, heart pumping at the rate of a humming birds wings. Ren was getting closer and closer, until finally he was near enough for Neptune to dive forward, shoving Ren to the floor, using his own body as a shield for the raven haired boy. Neptune pressed his body as close as he could to Ren's, waiting for the rock above them to break before he lifted his head.   
Now on a normal day, Neptune by this point would be a shade of red similar to Pyrrha's hair, apologising profusely to the young man underneath him and repeating the words "no homo" in his head in order to keep himself sane. Though he may not have been shockingly intelligent to those around him, he knew how to read a situation. And when your friend is lying beneath you, seriously injured while a raging Dragon is only a few feet away from the both of you, it isn't really a fantastic time to utter the words, "no homo". 

Rubble coated the pair, thick and sharp. Ren turned his head to the side, trying to stop himself from coughing into Neptune's face. Neptune lifted himself onto his knees, covering his face as the dust and dirt began to dissipate into the wind. Looking back to the dragon, it appeared it's attention was now focussed back on Sun.

"Ah, shit." Ren said, holding his shoulder and leg, his facial features furrowed into an expression of discomfort. He liked to save his foul language for times when it was really needed. And judging by how much pain he was feeling right now, this was one of those times.   
"Oh crap I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to-"  
"Neptune it's fine, if anything I should be thanking you."  
Neptune helped the weaker boy to his feet, wondering if he could even walk. Both the noises of pain and the amount of assistance needed to stand confirmed the blue clad boy's suspicion. Neptune turned around, and got on one knee, hunching his back forward.   
"Here, get on."  
Ren protested much less than Pyrrha had done earlier. If he knew anything about Lie Ren it was that he hated to look weak in front of others. For him to comply like this, the poor kid must've been in agony.  
"Are you sure?" He replied, only slightly reluctant.  
"Of course I am. Now come on. We need to go before that thing's attention is back on us."  
Ren climbed onto Neptune's back as quickly as possible, which, right now, wasn't very fast. Neptune made up for his lack of speed with how quickly he got to the staircase. He had done as Sun instructed, and now, they were to wait. 

\------------------------------------------

Sun took a moment to gaze back a Neptune, seeing that the Grimm's attention was locked onto his partner. He didn't have time to help. As much as he wanted to, getting to Nora was his priority. The monkey faunus sprung into the air, and off of a few pieces of shrapnel, managing quicken his pace slightly. Landing on the ground next to the ginger, he began relaying his plan with no hesitation, not giving the girl enough time to question him.  
"I have an idea," he began, Nora's attention turning to him as she listened, "it's kinda simple, but it should give us enough time to get out of here."  
"Give me whatever you got."  
Sun smirked. He really did like this girl. She had guts.  
"Next time that thing decides to roar, I want you to fire as many grenades as you can into it's mouth. Hopefully that'll hurt it enough for us to get to the stairs."  
Nora nodded and turned away, before realising something, "what about Ren and Neptune?"  
"It's all good," Sun reassured her, "they're already on their way to the staircase."  
Nora nodded once more.   
"Okay, I'm gonna go and try to get the big guy to speak. And one more thing," he continued, "I'm gonna need to carry you, otherwise we're not gonna get out of here."  
Nora sighed, slightly annoyed, but still compliant, "Okay, but as soon as we're safe, you're putting me down."  
"You got it."

Sun clasped his hands together, activating his semblance.   
"Alright bud," he said to no one, "let's see what you've got."  
Four glowing yellow copies of his body emerged from his form, and shot into action, grabbing the dragon's attention. Each of the clones stood at each corner of the tower, shooting phantom bullets at it from every direction. This, coupled with Nora's occasional bright pink grenade, eventually angered the dragon to it's breaking point. It brought out it's wings once more, taking flight. Only a few metres off of the ground, it finally decided to let out an ear piercing sound. Nora wasted no time in firing all of the grenades she had left, all aimed straight at the creature's mouth. The Dragon wasn't the only one letting out a battle cry anymore.  
As each of the rounds exploded, creating a blended mixture of both pink and black gas, Sun quickly moved back in Nora's direction, picking her up bridal style. He would have put her on his back, but that would've unfortunately taken much more time. And right now, that wasn't a luxury they could afford.

Sun bounded towards the battered staircase, as the dragon fought to see through the smoke around it's face. It swung back and forth, tossing it's head left and right, in any attempt at managing to see.   
Neptune finally started to fade into view, an extremely panicked expression on his face. He had Ren on his back, his head resting on Neptune's shoulder. The blonde couldn't tell if he was conscious or not, though he was assuming the boy had indeed passed out. Shit. That wasn't good.   
Neptune was yelling something. Sun couldn't quite hear him over the ruckus going on behind him. He didn't dare look back. 

"FUCKING RUN!"   
Oh. So that's what he was yelling.   
Nora yelped in his arms, and at first, he though he might have hurt her. But taking a quick glance behind him proved that theory completely wrong. The dragon was no longer distracted. In fact it was only about ten feet behind them. Sun was already running at top speed, there was no way he could outrun this thing for much longer. Neptune started to make his way down the staircase.   
'C'mon, c'mon. Just a little further. Fifteen feet... ten... five.... there!'  
He leapt down the staircase, landing rather ungracefully as he toppled over, Nora yelping once more as she fell with him.   
Neptune stood just above the pair, giving Sun a hand up as he lifted Nora with him.   
"Hell yeah, man."  
Nora interrupted, "guys, this isn't over."  
Almost as if proving her point, the floor began to tremble, nearly knocking Sun off of his feet again.  
Neptune led the way, "Let's go. I don't really want to be flattened by a building today."

\------------------------------------------

Stumbling reaching the final step, Jaune instinctively looked up, unable to see any part of the action on at the top of the building. Still hearing the echoing gunfire of Stormflower, and the occasional cacophony from Magnhild, along with the low, crackling growl of the gigantic creature, the young man took a few steps backwards, his view getting no better.

Swiftly scanning for any dangers, he brought his gaze back to his level.  
"Jaune," Pyrrha finally spoke up, her consciousness returning after having a short amount of time to replenish a small amount of her aura, "I'll keep an eye out for Grimm, you focus on getting somewhere safe."  
He sighed. Obviously he didn't want to doubt his partner, but in the state she was in, even despite having time to regain aura, he was questioning if it would be such a good idea to let her have such an important job. Shaking the thought out of his head, deciding there was no other option, he responded with an affirmative hum, before beginning to move.

The next while was spent in silence. Well, at least as silent as it can get when the sound of gunfire and the roaring of a beast filled the air. Broken and battered, Beacon was now in ruins. What was only a few hours ago a place of learning and peace, had now become a war ground. Buildings were falling apart, as rubble now decorated the floor. The boy's thoughts drifted back to his boyfriend and girlfriend still atop the tower. He wished he'd have said something better to them before he left. But instead, his last words to them were dripping with sass and rudeness. He wished he could kiss them. That he could hug them. He just wanted them with him, safe.

Pyrrha's thoughts were incredibly similar. She wished that they had just left her there, then at least only one of them would die.   
'No, they're not going to die,' she thought to herself, 'stop thinking like that.'  
The blonde suddenly stopped walking, bringing Pyrrha back to reality.  
"What is it?"   
"Look," he nodded forward.  
Pyrrha lifted her head. The centre of Beacon. Hundreds of Students and teachers where gathered together in the courtyard. A temporary hospital, airships, and also:  
"Help," Jaune said, "We can get help."  
Jaune immediately started moving, changing his original walking pace to a jogging one. Pyrrha began scanning for her friends, team RWBY, the other member of SSSN and so on. 

"Jaune! Pyrrha!"  
The familiar voice appeared as if from nowhere, "Weiss!"  
"Are you guys alright? Where are Ren and Nora?"  
"They're at the top of the tower," Jaune said.  
"What? Why are they-"   
"There's no time to explain," Pyrrha interrupted as Jaune carefully put her down, letting her lean on him, "they need help. They're fighting that demonic Grimm, and Neptune and Sun are up there too. We need to send a search party up there immediat-"  
Booming across the surrounding area, the massive collapsing of the foundations supporting Beacon's central tower didn't give the warrior time to finish her sentence. Whipping her head around at the noise, she turned herself to face the building against Jaune's body, Weiss entering her peripheral vision as she made her way to stand alongside them. As if a bomb had been set off, the building began falling in on itself, level by level, each part of the tower being absorbed by the growing cloud at its crumbling base. Hundreds of heads turned and watched, as a teams worth of good people fell. Sun. Neptune. Ren and Nora. And all any of them could do, was watch.

Pyrrha's eyes widened. She almost couldn't believe what she was seeing. Jaune could feel his whole world splitting to pieces along with the toppling tower. Vibrating the ground beneath their feet, it didn't take long for the dust cloud to reach them, though it had thinned. Jaune fell to his knees, tears beginning to fall down his face, not quite coming to terms with the fact that this was real. Weiss caught Pyrrha before she could do the same, letting the taller woman weep into her shoulder. Weiss bowed her head solemnly, trying to hold back the water in her eyes.  
"Weiss! Jaune, Pyrrha! Hey we've been looking for you guys! We need to get out of here, the tower just-"  
Ruby ended her sentence. Weiss turned her head to face her red clad partner, choosing not to reply as a single droplet fell down her pale face.  
Immediately concerned, Ruby approached the trio. The evident of absence of half of JNPR burning in her mind, causing her to hope her suspicion of what was the matter was incorrect. Voice straining, she raised a question that she partly dreaded finding the answer to.  
"Where- where are Ren and Nora?" She spoke softly, fighting the panicked tears filling her eyes.  
Weiss responded with more silence, her answer lying in the bowed headshake she gave.   
Ruby's voice immediately shot up an octave, her tears beginning to spill.  
"B-but they, they can't-"  
Jaune screamed.   
Collapsing into himself, he sobbed, letting the flood gates open as a river of tears flowed down his face, creating a clear line of water through the dirt and grime. Anguish and mourning dripped from his tongue, letting any onlookers view his pain in all it's agonizing glory. He couldn't take it anymore. He wished he had said something better to them. He wished he could tell them he loved them.

A hand placed itself on the blondes back, the body it was attached to kneeling next to him. A sea of red hair came into view as his head was tilted upwards by a bruised palm. Weiss had assisted in Pyrrha hoveling over to him, placing her on the dusty concrete by his side.   
Gazing into his eyes, finding only what his expression conveyed, she yanked the boy by the collar, holding him tight against her body as they cried. Their cries almost prevented Weiss from hearing a distant yell, as she comforted her disgruntled partner.  
"Wait," she said, lifting Ruby's head from her shoulder, "d'you hear that?"  
Ruby sniffed, "h- hear what?"   
Another shout, closer now, answered her question. Until another yell followed, and another, and another.   
"Jaune. Pyrrha."  
Pyrrha lifted her head, confused as to what Weiss could want that would be so dire as to interrupt their mourning. Then she heard the screams. The shouting of familiar voices. 

\--------------------------------

"HEY!"  
"ANYONE?!"  
"HELP!"  
Having only narrowly escaping the devastating collapse of the tower they had only just been inside, Neptune and Sun were not having the best of days. Then again, was anyone? It was likely that teams will have lost members, people will have lost friends. If anything, the pair were counting their lucky stars that they were still standing. Though, that didn't mean they had gotten out unscathed. Both of them now had a fair few more cuts and bruises than they had had before, however, again, they were still considering themselves lucky.   
Of course Nora had had enough of being carried, and Sun stuck to his word, though, she still wasn't able to walk alone, so the blonde had resorted to placing the girl's arm across his shoulders, and his along her back in an attempt to stabilize her. So far, it seemed to be succeeding.   
The ginger's partner, on the other hand, was faring less well. He was long unconscious, his head rested heavily on Neptune's shoulder. Now dripping with the red substance, his leg injury was apparently still bleeding. And although his side was no longer bleeding, it had still inflicted significant damage. Nora had done a brief check on that particular spot of his body, while the group stopped for a few minutes to catch their breath. She was unable to tell quite how deep it was, through all of the blood and severed skin, but it wasn't hard to tell that it was serious. Appearing as if his shoulder was dislocated, that was one of the least serious injuries he had. Which, evidently, was far from good. 

Sun and Neptune had resorted to screaming, for anyone to help them. They had considered the possibility of attracting more grimm to their location, though, in the state it was now, Beacon was impossible to navigate. Calling for help would be the best option, they decided.

Nora kept her eyes on Ren for the majority of the time they were walking. She willed him to be okay, and hoped that any of the words she uttered to him, he heard. It was likely he wouldn't, but she chose not to care. Presuming Jaune and Pyrrha hadn't stopped once they had escaped the tower, they should have been well away from the area before it collapsed. At least, she hoped they were.   
The incessant shouting from her friends was beginning to pry at her. An ache stabbing at her thigh was enough, she didn't need a headache too. But at this point, anything to get Ren the help he needed. And to find the rest of her team. 

Neptune sighed, "I don't think this is working."  
Sun spoke a little more harshly than intended, "gonna have to suck it up, Nep. We need help. And just walking around ain't gonna help us."  
"I'm well aware of that. I just don't think this is the best way we could go about it."  
"Oh? And do you have a better idea, genius?"  
"...no."  
"That's what I-"  
"Will you stop?" Nora interrupted their bickering, "we are presently stuck in the middle of the ruins of my school, one of my boyfriends is bleeding out, and I have no idea where my other boyfriend and girlfriend are. For all we know they could be dead. And you're here fighting like children."  
The pair stared at her as if they were just that, having just been scolded.  
"Look, we're really grateful for your help, but please just don't argue. My head hurts enough as it is."  
Neptune and Sun looked at each other with looks of guilt across their features, before going back to calling for help. Nora didn't mind that. At least they weren't pointlessly arguing anymore.

\----------------------------------

"Was that..?"  
"I think it is," Pyrrha edged herself upwards with the assistance of Jaune, who had finally caught on to what was happening, "we need to-"  
"no. You're staying here. With Ruby."  
Pyrrha chose not to argue this time.   
"I'll come with you," Weiss spoke up, "you'll need help in case any Grimm show up."  
The blonde wiped his eyes, immediately forgetting the pain he had just felt, replacing it with hopefulness.  
"We'll be somewhere in the hospital area when you get back, we'll try and warn them that more patients will be coming in," Ruby said.  
Jaune nodded, thankful for such good friends. Pyrrha place a brief kiss on his lips, "go get them back."  
And with that final comment, Jaune simply smiled, Weiss following close after him as they disappeared into the dust and darkness.

Another call. And another. Guiding them through the dust and the maze of buildings, the shouting becoming louder and louder at every turn they took. Undeniably it was Sun and Neptune, and as fate would have it, Ren and Nora would likely be with them. Jaune's pace increased along with his hope, his breath hitching in his throat when Weiss suddenly skidded to a stop in what seemed to be a clearing. She raised her hand to the blonde, gesturing for him to cease his movement too. Raising her other hand, two intricate, white designs appeared in the path in front of the two, drawing the cloud of dust and grime towards them, clearing their path. And sure enough, the familiar figures of his friends and teammates appeared.   
His eyes were first drawn to Nora, of whom seemed to be in a similar state as to what he left her in. Still coated in a dark layer of red, her leg was mostly dry, assisting in clotting the deep gash shut, or at least preventing it from leaking any more of her insides. Sun was taking most of her body weight for her, not only using his arms to keep her steady, but also his tail hooked around her waist.

Heart skipping a beat, he nearly didn't notice his boyfriend atop Neptune's back, his face hidden behind both his companion's shoulder, and his now tangled and knotted head of raven hair. Jaune could barely see the bright streak of magenta behind the sticky red, now turning his once beautifully tied back black sea into a blotchy, mangled mess. From what Jaune could see of the injuries he knew Ren had, his leg hadn't managed to stop itself from bleeding, the red delving to shades much darker than what the blonde remembered them to be. Judging by Ren's loose grip around Neptune's middle, he was unconscious. Whether it was from blood loss or his loss of aura, both would be equally detrimental.

Nora lifted her head, a smile growing her lips as her boyfriend sprinted towards them.   
"See," Sun said smugly, "I told you it would work."

\-------------------------------------

The next few hours felt like no time at all.   
At least, to Pyrrha.

Jaune and Weiss returned to the hospital area only a short while after they had left, with their missing companions and teammates in tow. It was only a brief amount of time before they were whisked away to an actual hospital, finally escaping the dangers of the area around them. They had placed her team in beds nearby her, so that she only had to glance to see the resting form of Ren, or the sat up, fidgeting form of Nora. And usually, Jaune would be sat on one of their beds, trying to cheer each of them up, not leaving any of them alone for a second. They were told that Nora's leg would heal, though until her aura was replenished, it would take a fair amount of time. Pyrrha's heel would possibly be something that would effect her throughout the rest of her life, depending on whether the muscle tissue repaired itself quick enough. And Ren's injuries... they were a bit more complicated. He was taken into surgery almost immediately after being brought in, his side apparently containing various pieces of shrapnel, that if they managed to get much further into his body, could cause permanently damaging effects. His leg had been snapped in two, part of the bone piercing his skin open from the inside. Jaune nearly fainted when they were told he was lucky to even be alive, considering how much blood he had lost. His shoulder however, was a quick mend. Compared to the rest of his injuries, a dislocated shoulder was child's play. A blood transplant was performed, and the team were then told to simply wait. 

"When d'you think he's gonna wake up?" Nora began the conversation, unable to hold in her worry any longer.  
"I'm not sure," Pyrrha replied, "the doctors said it could be any time."  
Jaune placed himself carefully by Ren's side, "I'm sure it won't be long, Nora."

A few minutes passed before Pyrrha broke the silence once more, "This is my fault."  
Nora and Jaune looked at her as if she had just killed a man, "what are you talking about? How on earth is this your fault?"  
"Because if I hadn't have gone up that tower alone, then you wouldn't have come up to save me, and you all would have gotten the medical help you needed-"  
"Pyrrha," Nora began, "we went up there because we love you. And we weren't just gonna stand by while you fought alone."  
"None of this is your doing, Pyrrha. You were trying to protect us," Jaune continued, "it may have been a little stupid," he smiled, "but that doesn't mean this is your fault."  
"They're right you know."

All eyes shot down to Ren, his head turned slightly to the left in order to see all of his teammates. Voice muffled slightly due to the oxygen mask, and eyes slightly glazed over, he smiled fondly at each of them, his expression slowly becoming contagious. Jaune shifted his position round a little, so as to face the boy. Ren lifted his good arm in an attempt to push himself upwards, quickly assisted by the blonde. He hissed through his teeth as the sheet he was under pulled down on his side, a burning suddenly shooting through his middle. Again, Jaune speedily pushed the sheet upwards for a moment, giving Ren enough space to manoeuvre.   
The raven haired boy lifted his good arm to try and slip the mask off of his face, but to no avail. He felt a hand place it's self on top of his own, and then another on the mask itself, carefully pulling it off over his head. He smiled gratefully at his boyfriend.  
"How're you feeling?"  
"Sore, but okay. What about you guys?"  
Nora scratched the back of her head, "erm-"  
"We'll survive," Pyrrha finished for her, "the doctors said that Nora's leg would heal, but she would have to be patient," she smirked, knowing that wasn't going to happen. "They said that depending on how quick the muscle in my foot decides to heal, it should be okay. And if not, it shouldn't be too hard to get some sort of prosthetic."  
Ren frowned at that. He knew full well that Pyrrha would hate having to wear a prosthetic. She wouldn't be able to fight as comfortably, and may or may not end up being unable to fight entirely. But he decided against raising that now.  
"And Jaune has a concussion, mostly from the fall he took in that locker."  
Jaune huffed at that.  
Ren chuckled softly, though he quickly found that may not have been a great idea. After his brief coughing fit had subsided, Pyrrha continued, Jaune now rubbing the boy's back gently.  
"You have quite a deep gash on your side, that only just missed your lung. They told us that you might need to avoid laughing too much, and until it's all properly healed, no exercise."  
Ren strained, "noted."  
Nora continued this time, "And I'll spare you the gory details, but your leg was broken in two, and so that'll take quite a while to heal too."  
The boy in question sighed, "great," he commented sarcastically, "and I presume my arm was dislocated?"  
Jaune nodded hesitantly.  
Ren sighed once more.   
"Hey," the blonde brought their attention back to him, "at least we're all alive."  
"And together," Nora added.  
Pyrrha smiled, "and that can only be good."  
Ren smirked, having to hold in his laughter so as to not cause another coughing fit. He paused, a realisation hitting him, "where are Sun and Neptune? Are they okay?"  
Jaune chuckled at Ren's instinctive concern for others, "they're fine. In fact, I think they're only a few rooms over from here."  
"They've got a fair few cuts and bruises that needed to be treated, but otherwise they're alright," Pyrrha finished.  
A wave of relief washed over him. He hesitated, "if you see them at any point, Jaune, or if they come in here while I'm asleep, could you guys thank them for us? Nora and I would still be stranded on top of that tower by now if it weren't for them."  
It only took Ren a second to notice his partner's nervous expressions.  
"...what?" He spoke like a father would to misbehaving children.  
Jaune stuttered, "Well, the er- the tower-"   
"The tower collapsed," Nora interrupted, despising the sudden tension.  
"What?!"  
Ren swiftly entered another coughing fit. Jaune rubbed his back as the boy leant into him, trying not to touch any of his injuries. He spoke as he did so, "no one's really exactly sure how it happened, but we think that it collapsed under the weight of that Dragon, and from all of the explosions. And, you know, the fire."  
Ren made an attempt to talk through his coughing, "was anyone hurt?"  
Nora responded, "no, luckily. That area was completely clear, apart from us," she paused, "for that matter, it was only a few minutes after we got out that the building collapsed."  
Ren contemplated that statement for a few moments, before speaking up again, "you guys didn't think we were-" he cut himself off, skipping past a rather sensetive word, "did you?"  
Pyrrha quickly changed the subject, "Jaune, why don't you help Nora over to Ren's bed so you can go and get a glass of water for him, and maybe a nurse. they'll probably want to check up on him now that he's awake."  
Jaune saw that she was trying to keep Ren from stressing too much. "Yeah, good idea."  
Making his way over to Nora's bed, he decided against going through the fuss of assisting her, and simply decided to carry her instead. A small noise of surprise escaped the gingers lips as she was whisked off of the bed and into her boyfriend's arms. Slipping back past Pyrrha's bed, he gently placed her down as close as he could to Ren's side.   
"Is that okay?"   
Nora and Ren both smiled at him. The latter simply nodded affirmatively, while Nora uttered a small yes, and a thank you.  
"I'll be back in a few minutes then," he made his way to the door, stopping to say one last sentence, "guys?"  
They turned to him before he continued, "I love you."  
Pyrrha replied for them, "We love you too."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That seems like a good place to end.   
> Like I said, it's a little rushed, but there you go. If you have any suggestions for future chapters please don't hesitate to comment, I could use all the help I can get.   
> But anyway, thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed.


	6. The pink one

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Qrow was unsure as to why her team put up with her. The short girl in pink, with the bright orange hair, the beaming smile and the most annoying voice he had ever heard. It seemed she rarely ever shut her trap, babbling on about anything she could see. One might even say they encouraged it.   
> Qrow had had enough of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeah so it's been quite a while since i've posted a chapter. sorry about that. there's been a lot of stuff going on at home at the moment, and this chapter isn't all that long either. but i suppose it's something. it's quite rushed though. 
> 
> this chapter is set in an alternate future in which pyrrha is still alive, but rwby, jnpr, qrow and oscar have a similar, if not the same objective. i may or may not have made qrow a little mean. but yeah.

Qrow was unsure as to why her team put up with her. The short girl in pink, with the bright orange hair, the beaming smile and the most annoying voice he had ever heard. It seemed she rarely ever shut her trap, babbling on about anything she could see. But for some unknown reason, every single day, the short boy in green with the long hair, the tall-ass blond with the sword and the warrior girl with the reddest locks he had ever seen: they all put up with her. One might even say they encouraged it. Giggling at her antics as she dashed back and forth from one place to another, her voice taking on so many different tones at once, yet still managing to stay at the same deafening volume. Letting her drape her body across them as they engaged in their own activities. However, it didn't go unnoticed that every so often one of the three would speak up, and tell her she couldn't do something. More often than not it was Ren, the one in the green. Each of them seemed to be able to calm her down with a single word.  
Of course, when she wasn't constantly yammering, she was a fairly nice girl. Kind, and obviously cared for her team very much. Making sure Ren ate enough every time a meal rolled around. Making sure Jaune was taking breaks in between training. And making sure Pyrrha didn't overwork herself to try and meet the expectations of people who didn't matter.  
There were even occasions in which she would keep a careful eye on team RWBY as well, as if she were a mother. Qrow was grateful for this, of course. It was always nice to know that someone had his nieces backs. He just wished this someone in particular would keep her distance, far away from him. 

It was odd. Nora's team was generally fairly laid back. Ren was quiet most of the time, content with listening to conversations instead of participating. Pyrrha was always rather patient and collected, even to the extremely demanding fans the group would come across in the street. Even Jaune was far more 'chilled out' than his shortest teammate. Qrow prided himself on that aspect of his personality, the ability to remain calm in even the toughest of situations. But as it turns out, for Qrow, the young ginger's presence quickly became grating.   
Though one thing he had yet to learn about team JNPR, was that they were extremely protective of one another. 

"Hey back off, man," he received from the blonde, in a much deeper tone than usual.  
"Don't speak to her like that," from Ren, his voice louder, more commanding than was average for him.  
"Excuse me?" From the champion, in a tone of anger and disbelief.  
Qrow raised his hands in defense, already agitated, "hey, if you don't want me to yell at pinky, maybe try and teach her to shut up every once in a while."  
Retorting immediately, Ren rose from the table the team were place around, folding a page of his book and shutting it gently. He sauntered almost intimidatingly towards the taller man, "First of all," he began, venom dripping from his tongue "she's not a dog. We don't need to 'teach' her anything." He continued his approach, lifting his arm to push the scythe wielder back, "secondly, I advise against shouting at our teammate as you just did again," Qrow felt the wall press into his back as the boy glared daggers into him, "because if you do," he leaned in, his lips just next to Qrow's ear, "you can kiss goodbye to ever walking again." Volume dropping as he reached the end of his sentence, Ren finally took a step back, allowing Qrow space.   
Hair swaying along with his body as he walked, Ren returned to his seat and resumed his reading, as if nothing had ever happened. Even his team was in slight awe at what had just occurred. Qrow decided his presence was doing no one any favours, and left, mumbling something about a bar.

Jaune turned to the girl next to him, and took her hand under the table. Nora dropped her gaze to look at the pair's intertwining hands before raising her head to meet the leaders eyes. Jaune smiled comfortingly, warmly, and gave her palm a quick squeeze, before turning his head to face the two opposite them, encouraging Nora to do the same.   
Pyrrha's expression seemed to mirror Jaune's, and Ren had a hand reached out to her from across the table. It wasn't long until the four of them had ceased each of their individual activities, and had begun a group conversation, of jokes, comfort, and joy. None of them had realised that they had created a circle of interlocked hands as they talked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i thought that qrow would probably find nora's personality to be a little much most of the time. i also thought that it would probably be ren to be the most protective of her, for reasons i find to be obvious. but yeah. like i said, this is quite short and rather rushed, but it's something.  
> hope you enjoyed reading, constructive critisism is always welcome in the comments.


	7. Picture frames and late night dances

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jaune quite commonly struggled to sleep. It was an issue that he had fought even in his early years of life. Most nights as a child, he would end up venturing downstairs for glasses of water, or even just to try and tire himself out.   
> Though, over the years, he had gotten used to persuading his mind into slumber, and as a result, it wasn't often that he would find himself where he was now, at 2 in the morning of all times.  
> But there he sat, alone in kitchen-dining room of the JNPR household, a dim lamp glowing in the corner of the room, the world seemingly silent around him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, this chapter is kinda short, but I wanted to get it out. This chapter is a little bit more Jaune centric this time. I hope you enjoy.

Jaune quite commonly struggled to sleep. It was an issue that he had fought even in his early years of life. Most nights as a child, he would end up venturing downstairs for glasses of water, or even just to try and tire himself out.   
At home, at Beacon, and even now, while surrounded by his three partners in bed each night, he often found himself tossing and turning under the covers, failing to cling onto any form of tiredness. Though, over the years, he had gotten used to persuading his mind into slumber, and as a result, it wasn't often that he would find himself where he was now, at 2 in the morning of all times.  
But there he sat, alone in kitchen-dining room of the JNPR household, a dim lamp glowing in the corner of the room, the world seemingly silent around him. Orange light shone against the various appliances, along with the old record player that Jaune's parents had gotten them as a moving gift, creating shadows that stood still as statues. 

Only a short while after moving into their household, after going through some of the last boxes and finding seemingly endless stacks of photos of JNPR and their close friends, Pyrrha had raised the idea to create a sort of memory wall. Originally it was supposed to go in the office, but they soon discovered that the wall was no where near large enough to fit every image. And so, it was moved to one of the biggest rooms in the house, where there would not only be space for pictures that already existed, but for pictures that would undoubtedly be taken in the coming years. And in the present, Jaune found himself in a sort of trance as he recounted the days that the photos captured. All of them showed himself and his team. Of course, members of team RWBY and SSSN made a few appearances, along with a few other friends, but the majority were simply photos of his team. His family. 

A picnic. Ren took that one. The blonde was positioned next to him on a blanket, one of his legs stretched out for Nora to rest her elbows on as she lay on her stomach. Pyrrha sat just in front of the shorter boy, her hand intertwined with his free one. Ren was turned away from the camara, only the side of his face being shown, despite being the one to have taken the photo. He had taken a few of them in those couple of moments, and just so happened to turn away from the lens for a second to make an addition to the conversation going on just behind him. Jaune and Pyrrha were visibly laughing at the comment their boyfriend had just brought forward, and Nora seemed to been retorting through her own laughter. Though Ren had objected to putting up that picture in particular, as he claimed he looked "ridiculous from that angle," it had been voted that that was, in fact the best picture of the day. 

Another had been taken by Pyrrha. She was towards the bottom centre of the frame, leaving just enough room for the smaller ginger girl to fit above her. The magenta eyed boy had taken the right of the image, while Jaune stood on the left, smiles on all of their faces. This one had been taken on a winters day, pale snow glistening in the background, both on the ground and in trees that seemed to hang slightly lower than usual under the weight of the icy substance. Each member of the team were wearing thick coats, with Nora also sporting a bright pink bobble hat, along with a scarf wrapped around Ren's shoulders and hanging down his front. Pyrrha had taken to zipping the ends of her scarf into her coat, however, it wasn't visible in the photo of course, it was just something the blonde had remembered about the day. Or more specifically, the morning. Her coat zipper had managed to get the scarf lodged inside its mechanism, forcing it to a halt. Both Jaune and Ren had attempted to assist before Nora eventually got involved. And although she did get the zipper unstuck, she had also ripped it off of the coat itself. Pyrrha was wearing one of Jaune's coats in the photo. 

Jaune's personal favourite didn't actually have the leader in it. It had been taken by him on the day they had moved into their new home. Again, Pyrrha sat at the centre of the frame, on the living room couch. Cardboard boxes towered in the background and even a few stood at the redhead's feet in the photo, reminding the group of the havoc that had overtaken each of their senses only a sort while before this moment was captured. Taken after the all of the stress of the day, the photo perfectly displayed the emotions felt at the end of it all. Nora lay across her, her head resting in the taller girls lap, eyes closed as she slept, while her legs curled across the cushions behind her. And on her other side, Ren leant against her shoulder, his fingers loosely intertwined with the red heads as his chest softly fell and rose along with his breathing. In the middle, Pyrrha was gazing fondly at the pair, her free hand running through Nora's hair. Jaune could remember only a few minutes after this, he and Pyrrha had carried Nora and Ren up the stairs and carefully tucked them into their new bed, and soon joined them after getting changed.

Each and every one of those pictures had memories behind them. And as Jaune became so lost in his thoughts, dancing about in his head, he didn't hear as footsteps began to softly make their way down the stairs. He only realised that someone had ventured downstairs when he heard a soft voice call his name.  
"Jaune?"   
A jolt shot through the blonde's body as he whipped his head around to face the doorway, taken completely off guard by the male voice.   
Ren was immediately apologetic as he approached, "sorry, I didn't mean to sca-"  
"no, no, it's fine," Jaune quickly interrupted as he stood. He gazed at the smaller boy as he stopped just in front of him. "What're you doing up so late?" The blonde questioned.  
Ren chuckled as he reached out to hold Jaune's hands, "I could ask you the same question."  
The blonde paused, a soft smile on his face as remembered the he was just as conscious as Ren. Letting go of one of his partners hands for a moment, he sat down once more, leading Ren to do the same. "I couldn't sleep again."  
Letting out a breath, Ren responded, "Oh, Jaune," he brought his free hand to cup the leader's face, "you should've woken one of us up. At least you wouldn't have been alone down here then."  
Ren was fully aware that the blonde was not one for being alone. Usually those who grow up in large and busy families cherish their time alone far more than others, but it didn't take too long for his team to realise that Jaune was not like this at all. The leader much preferred it when he was around people, as not only did it remind him of his home, but it also brought with it the feeling that his childhood home provided. Safety, comfort, warmth. It grounded him in times when he felt the most uneasy.   
"I know," his gaze drifted downwards, "I just didn't want you guys to be tired tomorrow too."  
Ren lifted Jaune's chin slightly as a way to tell him to look at the smaller boy once more. He did not reply in words, he simply rose an eyebrow and smirked as he lowered his own chin, his eyes still remaining locked with the blonde's.   
"I know you don't care," he smiled softly, before quickly letting it fall again, "but I do."

Sighing quietly, Ren gazed sadly at his boyfriend, before smiling slightly as he stroked Jaune's cheek, the taller boy leaning into the touch. A few moments of silence passed, before the raven haired boy began to rise from his seat. After moving forward to peck the blonde's forehead, he began to advance across to room. The leader watched him curiously as he made his way around the table and towards one of the kitchen counters. Jaune swivelled around in his seat so he could continue watching as Ren carefully turned the volume dial down slightly on the record player, before setting the needle against the vinyl.   
The quiet sound of a violin began to play, as Ren turned back to Jaune. He reached out his hand as the keys of a piano joined in the melody, "care to dance?"  
Jaune smiled fondly, before placing his palm in Ren's.   
Taking a step backwards to allow the taller of the two room to stand, Ren slide his arms under Jaune's, and around his lower back as the blonde wrapped his own around the shorter boy's shoulders. Ren gently pressed his forehead into Jaune's shoulder, his embrace tightening ever so slightly as the pair began to sway along to the slow beat.  
"Hey," Jaune whispered into Ren's hair, "I never asked you why you're up so late."  
Ren laughed softly into the blonde's chest, warmth spreading across his cheeks at the sound, "you left, and my back got cold."  
It was then Jaune's turn to laugh, "did Nora steal all the blankets again?"  
"Yes. Yes she did."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before you say anything, yes I know I probably use Ren way too much. I just really love him as a character, and I have tons of ideas in my head that focus mostly around him, so yeah. I just really like writing for him, and there are barely any fanfictions out there that focus on Ren that much anyway (he is way too underrated), so I suppose it's not that bad.  
> But anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Feel free to leave constructive critisism in the comments, it will always be taken into account.  
> Thank you for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> i'm aware this isn't exactly fantastic, i didn't exactly spend much time on this. i was just sad and needed to cheer myself up. i'll try and make the next chapters better. thank you for reading though.


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